November 17, 2023 1:59 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials say at least seven states are seeing high levels of the flu and that cases are rising in other parts of the country. New flu data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows flu is steadily rising. The winter flu season traditionally ramps up in December or January. But it took off in October last year and is making a November entrance now. Louisiana has very high flu activity. There is high activity in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico and South Carolina and the District of Columbia. Health officials in Puerto Rico declared an influenza epidemic earlier this month.
November 17, 2023 1:40 pm
(WPXI) – Pennsylvania State Police are investigating after a Westmoreland County bank was robbed by a man with a gun Friday. According to state police, the robbery happened at 11:25 a.m. at the First National Bank Stonehouse Office in Hempfield Township. State police said a black male suspect presented a threatening note and displayed a handgun in his waistband. The suspect fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash, according to state police. The suspect is described as wearing a face and head covering, a dark-colored hooded shirt or jacket, blue jeans and white sneakers. He also had on a dark-colored backpack. Anyone with information is asked to call state police in Greensburg at 724-832-3288.
November 17, 2023 12:34 pm
(WPXI) – There is a new warning issued for pet owners after a mystery respiratory illness was discovered. Officials say that it affects dogs and is spreading across the country. The illness is very contagious and can be deadly, veterinarians say. According reports, the most reported symptoms are similar to kennel cough, which includes coughing, sneezing, nasal and/or eye discharges, and lethargy. It was reported first in Oregon in August and Oregon’s Department of Agriculture received over a hundred reports from vets regarding the illness. Vets are recommending that pet owners avoid dog parks or letting their pets hang out with dogs they don’t know. They also suggest avoiding boarding your pets this holiday season if you can.
November 17, 2023 5:13 am
DETROIT (AP) — United Auto Workers union members have voted to approve a new contract with General Motors, making the company the first Detroit automaker to get a ratified deal that could end a contentious and lengthy labor dispute. A vote-tracking spreadsheet on the union’s website shows that with all local union offices reporting, the contract passed by just over 3,400 votes, with 54.7% in favor. A union spokesman on Thursday confirmed that the spreadsheet had the official totals. On Thursday the contract had a big lead in voting at Ford and Stellantis, with 66.7% in favor at Ford and 66.5% voting for it at Stellantis.
November 17, 2023 5:12 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court judge has paused a gag order that barred Donald Trump from commenting on court staffers in his civil fraud trial. The trial judge had imposed the gag order last month and later fined Trump $15,000 for violations after the former president made a disparaging social media post about a court clerk. In his decision Thursday, Judge David Friedman of the state’s intermediate appeals court cited constitutional concerns about restricting Trump’s free speech. He issued a stay of the gag order, allowing Trump to comment freely about court staff while a longer appeals process plays out.
November 17, 2023 5:07 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Republicans battling to be the alternative to former President Donald Trump are coming together for what an influential Christian organization in Iowa is billing as a friendly conversation on politics and their world views. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will appear at the roundtable “family discussion” in Des Moines Friday, Trump is not expected to make an appearance, though he was invited. The field around Trump is winnowing with less than two months before the Iowa caucuses kick off the GOP nominating calendar. In a sign of the urgency the field faces, many of his rivals are going after each other more frequently with jabs that have often turned personal.
November 17, 2023 5:05 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are two strong allies who don’t always get along personally. On Friday, they will meet to talk migration, fentanyl trafficking and Cuba relations. The two leaders are in San Francisco for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. where Biden has held a series of face-to-face meetings with other leaders, including China’s President Xi Jinping and the leaders of Japan and South Korea. He’s trying to reassure the region that the U.S. and China are competitors, not zero-sum rivals.
November 17, 2023 5:04 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs and singer Cassie say they have settled a lawsuit containing allegations of beatings and abuse by the powerful music producer. The settlement was announced on Friday in a statement from an attorney for Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura. It comes one day after the lawsuit was filed. The statement says Combs and Ventura have reached a deal to their “mutual satisfaction.” No terms of the agreement have been disclosed. Ventura and Combs both issued statements. The statement from Ventura’s lawyer says no further statements will be issued.
November 17, 2023 5:03 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden has ended the immediate threat of a government shutdown, signing a temporary spending bill a day before much of the government was to run out of money. The bill, which maintains existing funding levels, pushes a fight with congressional Republicans over the federal budget into the new year, when GOP lawmakers in the House are vowing to exact stiff spending cuts. It splits the deadlines for passing full-year appropriations bills into two dates: Jan. 19 for some federal agencies and Feb. 2 for others. The measure does not include any wartime aid for Ukraine or Israel, nor does it offer humanitarian funding for Palestinians.
November 17, 2023 5:03 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Rescuers in Gaza don’t have the equipment to search properly for the living, let alone the dead. Every day, hundreds of people claw through tons of rubble with shovels and iron bars and their bare hands. They are looking for the bodies of loved ones killed in Israeli missile strikes. More than five weeks into Israel’s war against Hamas, some streets are now more like graveyards. U.N. humanitarian monitors say at least 2,700 people, including 1,500 children, are missing and believed buried under the rubble. More than 11,400 are dead.
